Rivera (unanimous!), Martinez, Halliday, Mussina make HOF

McGriff was a great player...just maybe not quite an all-time great player. But if Harold Baines is in then how is McGriff not? That precedent really effs things up.

There several players that have gotten votes on the ill-gotten logic of “well, if HE’s in, then this guy should be too”. That sort of logic is the reason the bar has continually gotten lower.

I recall an employee once coming to me with “Jimmy says he’s making X amount. I do a better job, but I’m making X-1. I should get a raise”.

My reply was:

#1. It is against company policy stated in your employee manual to discuss your pay with other workers.

#2. How do you know Jimmy is telling you the truth? And if he is, perhaps I made a mistake and am overpaying him. If I am, does that justify me making a second mistake?

#3. I will take your statement under consideration for our next evaluation period, which is typically when I’m able to give raises without having to plead with the owners.

I use the same basic logic here...AND, am I glad I no longer have “people”...

Lol, reminds me, about 15 years ago I ran into an old school semi-chum that had recently been promoted and had “people” for the first time in his career at about 50 years of age. It was all he’d talk about...”I have people to do this and people to do that, people, people, people”. I wasn’t overly impressed, bit by damn, he sure was. “Good for you, John. Good for you”.

Shit, I had people for most of my life. Don’t miss ‘em, and I find I like people now more than I did when they were “mine”.

What were we talking about again? Oh yeah. The Hall of Fame. Sorry players, if you’re not in the one on my head, it really doesn’t count...

Problem is McGriff I think for these voters is he falls just short of some of the benchmark numbers.

.284 493 1550

If anyone of those numbers were slightly higher I think he would get more votes. Something like

.300 500 1700 just looks a little more attractive to voters.

Also no mvps and only 5 all star appearances

From the numerical perspective, yes. Something like that...One thing that can also happen to players that take a fair number of walks is that they give up RBI opportunies. Often free swinging players are glorified for driving in runs, perhaps beyond what they deserve. On of my favorite examples of this is Joe Carter. Quite over rated in my view. Lots of ribbies, can’t deny that, but the BA and OBP combo scream that he may have helped his team more by taking instead of raking...

McGriff would look great in one of those 1979 "We Are Family" Pirate boxtop hats they used to wear.

Fred McGriff has always seemed borderline HOF to me, the kind of guy who makes the arguments interesting and who by necessity forces us into headache-inducing statistical analysis to make the case for or against.  I think a plausible argument can be made either way, but I don't feel like doing the deep dive to get into it.  In any case, it doesn't require a deep dive to understand that his credentials were clearly better than those of Baines -- who like McGriff is a sterling person but who unlike McGriff has enough strategically placed friends to get him elected.

I loved McGriff as a player -- he never moved the needle like no-doubt-about-it HOFers -- but boy was he consistent.  For seven straight seasons between 1988 and 1994, he never hit fewer than 31 HRs and never hit more than 37 HRs.  Just plug him in and watch him go.  There are many better players in the Hall, and many lesser ones.